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INSTRUCTION MANUAL
®
Orion
™
Skywatcher 90mm EQ
#9024 Equatorial Refracting Telescope
Customer Support (800) 676-1343
E-mail: support@telescope.com
Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000
P.O. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061
Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975
IN 112 Rev. A 0399
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Piggy back camera adapter Tube mounting rings Finder scope bracket Finder scope Tube ring mounting plate Alignment screws (3) Dec. lock knob Dec. setting circle Eyepiece R.A. lock knob Star diagonal R.A. slow-motion control Focus knob Counterweight locking thumbscrew Dec. slow-motion control Counterweight R.A. setting circle Counterweight shaft Latitude locking t-bolt Latitude adjustment t-bolt Azimuth adjustment knob Accessory tray bracket attachment point Accessory tray bracket Tripod leg loc
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Congratulations on your purchase of a quality Orion telescope. Your new Skywatcher 90mm EQ Refractor is designed for high-resolution viewing of astronomical objects. With its precision optics and equatorial mount, you’ll be able to locate and enjoy hundreds of fascinating celestial denizens, including the planets, Moon, and a variety of deep-sky galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters. If you have never owned a telescope before, we would like to welcome you to amateur astronomy. Take some time to f
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finder scope or eyepieces with your fingers. The optical sur- halfway up the shaft and tighten the counterweight locking faces have delicate coatings on them that can easily be thumbscrew. damaged if touched inappropriately. NEVER remove any lens 9. Attach the two tube rings to the equatorial head using the assembly from its housing for any reason, or the product war- bolts that come installed in the bottom of the rings. First ranty and return policy will be void. remove the bolts, then push the
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rotate freely about the R.A. axis. Rotate it until the coun- scope. Make sure the knurled lock nut on each alignment terweight shaft is parallel to the ground (i.e., horizontal). screw is loosened before making any adjustments. 2. Now loosen the counterweight locking thumbscrew and Once the target object is centered on the crosshairs of the slide the weight along the shaft until it exactly counterbal- finder scope, look again in the main telescope’s eyepiece and ances the telescope. (Figure 2a)
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scale is set at the latitude of your observing site. If you So, the coordinates for the Orion Nebula listed in a star atlas don’t know your latitude, consult a geographical atlas to will look like this: find it. For example, if your latitude is 35° North, set the R.A. 5h 35.4m Dec. -5° 27' pointer to +35. Then retighten the latitude locking t-bolt. That’s 5 hours and 35.4 minutes in right ascension, and -5 The latitude setting should not have to be adjusted again degrees and 27 arc-minutes in de
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Figure 1 the telescope is pointed north as it would be during Cooling the Telescope polar alignment. The counterweight shaft is oriented down- All optical instruments need time to reach “thermal equilibri- ward. But it will not look like that when the telescope is pointed um.” The bigger the instrument and the larger the temperature in other directions. Let’s say you want to view an object that is change, the more time is needed. Allow at least a half-hour for directly overhead, at the zenith. H
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For example, the Skywatcher 90 EQ, which has a focal length Avoid looking over buildings, pavement, or any other source of 910mm, used in combination with a 25mm eyepiece, yields of heat, as they will cause “heat wave” disturbances that will a power of distort the image you see through the telescope. 910 ÷ 25 = 36x. Especially important for observing faint objects is good “trans- parency”—air free of moisture, smoke, and dust. All tend to Every telescope has a useful limit of power of about 45x-
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published monthly in Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, or other Consult a star atlas or observing guide for information on find- astronomy magazines to locate them. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, ing and identifying deep-sky objects. A good source to start and Saturn are the brightest objects in the sky after the Sun with is the Orion DeepMap 600 (part #4150). and the Moon. Not all four of these planets are normally visi- ble at any one time. 7. Astrophotography JUPITER The largest planet, Jupiter, is a great
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the planet to be photographed and the ISO of the film being back to the center of the crosshairs. The hand controller only used. moves the telescope along the R.A. axis, which is where most of the corrections will be made. If the guide star appears to be “Piggybacking” Photography drifting significantly along the Dec. axis, then the mount’s The Moon and planets are interesting targets for the budding slow-motion control cables can be carefully used to move the astrophotographer, but what’s next?
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ing optical surfaces with your fingers, as skin oil may etch optical coatings. To remove fingerprints or smudges from a lens, use photo- graphic-type lens cleaning fluid and lint-free optical lens cleaning tissue. Do not use household cleaners or eyeglass- type cleaning cloth or wipes, as they often contain undesirable additives like silicone, which don’t work well on precision optics. Place a few drops of fluid on the tissue (not directly on the lens), wipe gently, then remove the fluid with a
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Figure 2b. Telescope is now balanced on the R.A. axis. That Figure 2a. Balancing the telescope with respect to the R.A. is, when hands are released, counterweight shaft remains axis by sliding the counterweight along its shaft. horizontal. Figure 2c. Preparing the telescope to be balanced on the Figure 2d. Balancing the telescope with respect to the Dec. Dec. axis by first releasing the Dec. lock knob. axis. As shown here, the telescope is out of balance (tilting). Figure 2e. Telescope is now ba
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DECLINATION AXIS Declination (Dec.) setting circle R.A. lock knob Right ascension (R.A.) setting circle Declination (Dec.) slow motion Right ascension control (R.A.) slow motion control Latitude adjustment t-bolt Latitude locking Azimuth adjustment knob t-bolt Latitude scale Figure 3. The equatorial mount. Little Dipper (in Ursa Minor) N.C.P. Big Dipper (in Ursa Major) Polaris Cassiopeia Figure 4. To find Polaris in the night sky, look north and find the Big Dipper. Extend an imaginary li
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Figure 5a. Telescope pointing south. Note that in all these Figure 5b. Telescope pointing north. illustrations, the mount and tripod remain stationary; only the R.A. and Dec. axes are moved. Figure 5c. Telescope pointing east. Figure 5d. Telescope pointing west. 14
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One-Year Limited Warranty This Orion Skywatcher 90 EQ is warranted against defects in materials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase. This warranty is for the benefit of the original retail purchaser only. During this warranty period Orion Telescopes & Binoculars will repair or replace, at Orion’s option, any warranted instrument that proves to be defective, provided it is returned postage paid to: Orion Warranty Repair, 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076. If the p
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Improved Finder Scope Bracket Addendum to the Instructions #9024, 9025, 9086 During recent production of our Skywatcher 90 EQ (#9024), the adjustment screws a couple of turns each to secure Explorer 90 AZ (#9025), and ShortTube 80 (#9086) tele- the finder scope in place. scopes, we developed an improved design for the finder Pages 4 and 5 explain how to align the finder scope. The scope bracket. The new design makes aiming the finder instructions are still valid, but to aim the finder scope, on
